After a long wait, with little information from both Metricon and Council, we received the phone call we’d been waiting to get for quite awhile. Council has signed off on the remaining items, and our permanent occupancy certificate is in the mail!

For weeks, we’ve been wondering what big issue we’d be facing next. No info was being communicated from the builder (please work on this in the future, Metricon!) and frankly, we were starting to freak out. After a number of unreturned phone calls to Metricon, we were contacted out of the blue by Blacktown City Council. It wasn’t Metricon that was causing the hold up – it was Council!

Continue reading “Permanent Occupancy Certificate (Part III)” »

With most warranty issues resolved, and only minimal follow up work left, we are very close to putting our issues and concerns with Metricon behind us. Not a moment too soon either, as I am over having the tradesmen showing up just as we’ve got the baby to sleep, only to have him wake again.

We raised the issue around scratched glass in our windows and doors and, as of yesterday, all windows and doors have been replaced. All of these were the result of the cleaners that Metricon hired, using dull razors to scrape away the dark oak stain from the glass – something that ended up costing Metricon a pretty penny.  It appears that this is a common issue in new homes too – a neighbour of ours who also built with Metricon had similar issues. He too had to fight to get these replaced. Frustrating, but a worthy battle to fight. We’ve even had a home here at Stonecutters Ridge that had to have ALL their tapware replaced, after the cleaners used an acidic cleaning solution that caused it all to rust.

So with warranty issues more or less behind us, we can start to look at other projects around the house. We’ve recently had retaining walls built in our front yard built (pictures forthcoming), and had plans drawn up for a veranda. There’s a lot to look forward to now!

We moved into our house in November of 2010. It’s almost 2012, and we’ve still been “working” with Metricon to address the outstanding issues from what was originally supposed to be our 90 day inspection (Side Note: A 90 day inspection is typically when the inspection is held, but lord knows when the issues are actually fixed.). Finally, after complaining posting on Twitter  (Kudos to Metricon for managing their social media channels!), Metricon contacted us directly and scheduled a time for their NSW Building Manager to meet us and inspect the final issues we had that were related to the initial inspection (hence the lack of updates lately…). Were we finally getting somewhere?

Continue reading “Metricon warranty issues: resolved (sort of)” »

The weekend isn’t quite here, but I can already tell you our excitement of seeing the progress this weekend has already worn off.

After a short call from our site supervisor today, we were informed the metal capping for the brickwork has been delayed  as it needs to be custom made and, despite being told it was in stock, was not currently available. This of course needs to be installed prior to the weather board cladding – which has subsequently been pushed to next week.

We’re of course disappointed about the delay, but do understand this delay was out of Metricon’s control, and happy that our site supervisor reached out to us proactively to address any concerns we may have had about losing a week during the build process. It’s another tick in the ‘good on ya’ column for Metricon.

So we must wait until next weekend to see any real progress, but if this is as bad as it gets we’re really doing OK.

Live in Sydney? Then you’re fully aware of the horrible weather we’ve had this week (at least if you’re building a house). Sure, we can use the rain, but I’m not a fan of having the wettest May in 8 years, when we don’t have a roof on our half-built house.

With a month worth of rain in only a few days, Sydney is pretty saturated at the moment – and it’s not finished yet. Sunday and Monday look to hold more rain, and the showers are set to continue for the rest of the week.

Continue reading “The weather isn’t cooperating” »